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Rental cottage regulations finalized

Elizabeth Nolan
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Rental cottage regulations finalized

The Salt Spring Local Trust Committee gave third reading last Tuesday to a much-amended version of a bylaw allowing the long-term rental of some 400 seasonal cottages.

The final version of the bylaw rolled back a number of requirements that were previously proposed — including a blanket prohibition against bed and breakfasts in the mapped area — in light of considerable community opposition. The project itself was not scrapped as some had demanded, however, and will now go to the Islands Trust’s executive committee for approval.

“Brilliant work; you’ve nailed it as far as I’m concerned,” trustee Peter Grove said after staff recommendations were presented at the Feb. 18 meeting. “You took all the input that’s been received and made the changes, so people must feel heard.”

The updated bylaw prohibits B&B use only for cottages in the bylaw area that are greater than 56 square meters in size. (The bylaw gives owners of properties larger than two hectares the new ability to build cottages up to 90 m2.) Similarly, a requirement that all new cottages in the bylaw area have rainwater catchment installed was changed to affect only those larger than 56 m2.

The requirement to register a covenant against subdividing a cottage as a strata unit was dropped as being partly redundant, although staff said that leaves a window where some bare land property owners might build two new units and then create a strata.

Trustee Laura Patrick voted against advancing the bylaw in recognition of housing advocates’ opinion that the measure is inadequate to meet affordable housing needs. She suggested putting the project on pause to see what else a new housing working group could come up with, including the potential to increase aging in place opportunities.

“There could be aspects of this that are worth pursuing, but allow it to be examined in terms of what else you could do, and something else might result in more meaningful results,” Patrick said.

“This was not the final solution by any means,” Grove responded. “This was a small step; it was an attempt to deal with low-hanging fruit. There is a lot more that needs to be done and this will not interfere with any of that. This will not preclude further development of our plan. It’s just a very small step toward where we need to go.”

LTC chair Peter Luckham considered whether the cottages bylaw would restrict the ability to do further work on affordable housing and found it would not. He also saw value in advancing the project if it would create just one or two new units.

“Maybe it will even create several, which will provide relief to some in the short term,” Luckham said. “And absolutely this housing working group could come up with some new ideas and we could create a new bylaw rather than delay this any further, because it’s been such a long time coming.”

Fatal car crash leads to civil suit

Elizabeth Nolan
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Fatal car crash leads to civil suit

A 2012 tragedy involving two teens on Salt Spring has become the basis for a potentially precedent-setting case now underway in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.

In a civil trial that began last Wednesday, Calder McCormick, 24, is arguing that Stephen and Lidia Pearson are liable for the injuries he sustained in a car crash after leaving a party at their house. McCormick was 17 at the time of the incident and a passenger in the car. The driver, 18-year-old Ryan Plambeck, was killed in the crash.

Court documents filed by McCormick state that on Sept. 15, 2012 he and Plambeck had attended a party on Epron Road, which the Pearsons had hosted for “minor aged guests.” The Pearsons’ two daughters were teenagers at the time.

The outcome of the case is being closely watched as one that could set the standard for social host liability in B.C. when it comes to underage guests.

McCormick alleges the Pearsons encouraged and facilitated underage drinking, and claims they should have prevented Plambeck and himself from leaving or else ensured they got home safely. As hosts of the party, the lawsuit states the Pearsons “entered into a special relationship with their minor-aged guests and other guests . . . to supervise or alternately arrange for proper or adequate supervision and maintain control of the party and owed a duty of care.”

The civil suit further states the Pearsons knew or should have known about an uninsured Subaru parked in the neighbourhood with the keys inside, a vehicle which Plambeck drove away and soon after fatally crashed on a sharp bend of North End Road.

Neither teen was wearing a seat belt. Plambeck’s blood alcohol level was determined to have been well over the legal limit and it is alleged he was texting while driving.

The Pearsons argue in turn that McCormick was old enough to make decisions about alcohol use.

The response states: “At the material date, the plaintiff was 17 years of age and in Grade 11. He was of an age and experience to appreciate the risk of his choice to consume alcohol, and his decision to consume alcohol/other substances was voluntary. His age and experience was such to leave him accountable and responsible for his choices not withstanding his legal standing as a minor.”

If this was not the case, the response claims parents Mike McCormick and Corrie Jones were ultimately responsible for ensuring their son got home safely. The Pearsons claim they were aware of Calder’s previous alcohol use and should have made plans to get him home, and/or followed up when his twin brother arrived home safely without him.

The Pearsons further deny they had any way of knowing that Plambeck and McCormick would take a car that was parked on a Byron Road property.

McCormick claims his injuries have had a life-altering impact including lasting brain damage. They have impaired his ability to make an income and caused pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. Ongoing expenses for medical care and treatment are expected.

The civil suit had initially named Plambeck as well as members of the Coupland family who owned the Subaru and Byron Road property as defendants. The Couplands were removed from the suit before the trial started for an alternate resolution. It was reported last week that McCormick had agreed to a settlement with Plambeck’s estate.

The hearing is expected to continue for several more days.

Nobody Asked Me But: Hunger for fake news stories just won’t abate

Shilo Zylbergold
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Nobody Asked Me But: Hunger for fake news stories just won’t abate

You check your favourite social media site and you read “MILLIONS DYING.” Your heart palpitates for an instant and you can feel the hackles on the back of your neck rising. You scroll down a couple more lines to see what disaster is about to threaten our world and you read the rest of the headline “to learn the secret to weight loss.”

This is the kind of garbage that now dominates our world of misinformation and fake news. It’s really not a novel phenomenon. In the years before the rise of the internet, many will remember standing in the queue at the local supermarket checkout while being affronted by headlines from the various junk tabloids like National Enquirer or The Globe. These paper rags would scream out stories such as “ELVIS FOUND ALIVE IN MELTING ICEBERG” or “PRESIDENT KENNEDY AND MARILYN MONROE DISCOVERED RUNNING SMALL DINER IN UTAH” or “103-YEAR-OLD MOTHER GIVES BIRTH TO TRIPLETS IN INDIA.”

Normally these shocking headlines would elicit groans from ordinary grocery shoppers. After all, you would have to find yourself somewhere on the stupid/ignorant spectrum to believe that any of these exposés was possibly true. In these modern times, however, with so many people getting their news through internet news feeds or social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, it is often difficult to screen out the fake from the real.

There is no lack of satirical news sites whose main purpose is to amuse and befuddle. Fark, for instance, prides itself on presenting funny, “true” stories like “The true story of Miracle Mike, the chicken that lived for 18 months without a head.” The Onion, which since 1996 has been circulating clever satires of the news, has presented us eye-watering tidbits such as “CIA Realizes It’s Been Using Black Highlighters All These Years.” The Borowitz Report, which was once named the #1 Twitter feed by Time Magazine, has given the world “Trump Furious At Iran For Distracting People From Impeachment For Just Two Days.” And News Mutiny, the site that bills itself with “satire for the wise, news for the dumb” has claimed responsibility for “Arizona Deports Thousands of Useless People.”

Much more insidious than the satirical sites are the ones that are fake but appear to be from reputable publications and broadcasters such as Time magazine or ABC news. According to a survey by BuzzFeed News, 75 per cent of adults are hoodwinked into believing that a story has to be true if it comes from a trustworthy source. For instance, the site ABCnews.com.co is completely bogus and has nothing to do with the actual broadcasting corporation, yet many would believe a story that came from this particular feed.

Sometimes the credible broadcasters themselves are tricked into reporting fake news. For instance, in 2019, ABC had to retract a story it ran on the weekend news showing a fierce battle between Syrian Kurds and Turkish forces. Although the video appeared to be authentic, the footage was actually from a night gun demonstration at the Knob Creek Gun Range in West Point, Kentucky.

How weird are these fake news stories? Of course, you can find hundreds of them espousing the verity of all kinds of conspiracy theories, white supremacy racist propaganda, gay bashing and evidence to support flat earth disciples. It’s almost impossible to believe that anyone who is not flat-lining on a brain scan could possibly accept this kind of balderdash for the truth, but it is happening all the time.

What are really freaky are news stories that used to be called “urban myths” before the advent of the internet age, but are now reposted and retweeted between both friends and strangers so often that their very ubiquity leads everyone to believe that there has got to be substance to their existence. Most of these are so ridiculous as to be beyond the realm of possibility, yet there must be something in our collective psyches that makes us want to accept them as the truth.

One of these fabricated news items that recently made the rounds contended that the county of Miami-Dade in Florida had created special “texting lanes” for drivers who could not help themselves from texting whilst behind the wheel. The sides of these lanes were lined with rubber bumpers to keep these vehicles safely away from normal traffic and minimize the damage they would suffer should they collide with each other.

Another one exposes a proposed secret American government policy that would require the poor and homeless to subject themselves to saliva tests in order to prove that they are truly hungry. Only if they pass these tests would they be eligible to receive food stamps.

People seem to want to believe stories involving irony, especially the ones where perpetrators earn their “just desserts.” An example of one of these is the item that tells of the terrorist who neglected to put enough stamps on a letter bomb. When it was returned to him for insufficient postage, he forgot what it was and opened it. You guessed it: KABOOM!

Another tale displaying irony involves the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. According to this story, the average cost of rehabilitating each seal that had been damaged by the crude was $80,000. Apparently, a few months later, two of the saved seals were released back into the wild in front of a celebratory crowd of conservationists and well-wishers. In full view of the horrified throng, both seals were immediately eaten by a killer whale.

My favourite fake news story is the one that tells about the hospital bed curse. It seems that every Sunday at exactly 11 o’clock in the morning, whoever was lying in a particular bed in a particular room in the intensive care unit of a certain hospital was found dead. It didn’t matter what condition or disease the victim was suffering from. Experts and specialists were called in and as they stood watching the next Sunday, the mystery was solved when Pookie Johnson, the part-time weekend cleaner entered the room, disconnected the life-support machine, and plugged in his vacuum cleaner.

Nobody asked me, but there’s never been a shortage of fake news right here on Salt Spring. Have you heard that the recent analysis of an artesian well discovered directly beneath Centennial Park has found that the source comes from the headwaters of the Ganges River in India? Pass it on.

Editorial: Fishy facts

Driftwood Staff
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Editorial: Fishy facts

Art and science merged beautifully at the Salt Spring Arts Council’s Against the Current: Salmon and Orca exhibit at Mahon Hall this month.

Artwork on marine ecology themes and especially orcas and salmon, undertaken by professional artists as well as school children, combined to highlight the importance of the Salish Sea’s marine wildlife. The exhibit also brought the possibility of the extinction of the southern resident killer whales into sharp focus. One exhibit showed the lineage and names of all animals in the J, K and L pods. As biologist Alexandra Morton has pointed out, loss of the whales would make it the first species extinction on the planet where each individual’s name was known.

A Feb. 18 presentation called Let the Herring Live raised another important issue. If killer whales are starving due to a lack of chinook salmon, is not a lack of herring for the salmon to eat another factor to consider?

Speakers made a compelling case that overfishing of herring is something that needs to stop in order to increase the chance of survival for the salmon and the whales. Other groups and local government agencies have recently called for a cessation of the fishery or at least a reduction in the amount harvested this year.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans consistently states that harvesting of 20 per cent of the herring biomass is a sustainable practice, and it estimates the biomass amount each year. But DFO predicts the 2020 biomass will be only 54,200 metric tonnes, down from 86,000 tonnes in 2019, when it had predicted that number to be 138,000 tonnes. In 2016 the biomass was determined to be 130,000 tonnes, so it is clearly declining, despite contrary claims from the fishing industry last year.

The Strait of Georgia commercial herring fishery is the last of five that once existed on the B.C. coast. Comparisons to the death of the Atlantic cod fishery have been made. Can the destruction of a resource that’s economic value is derived from exporting the roe to Japan, and making pet treats and food for farmed Atlantic salmon really be justified? Local salmon fishing and tourism industries are negatively affected by loss of the herring as well.

More information and a petition to the House of Commons led by MP Gord Johns is available at pacificwild.org. If we’re serious about saving orcas and salmon, it’s an important place to start.

RICHARDSON, Ann

Driftwood Obituary
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RICHARDSON, Ann

Ann Richardson
December 15, 1923 to February 15, 2020

Ann was born in Detroit, Michigan, where she spent her early years. She earned a BA in Social Work at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. After graduating from college, she served as a Medic in the US Navy and as an Executive Director of Girl Scouts USA in a Detroit chapter of the organization.  Ann was an excellent administrator and membership almost tripled under her leadership. She also developed a successful outdoor camping programme. She left the scouting organization in 1963 to complete a Ph.D. in Social Work at the University of Pennsylvania and subsequently held a teaching position as Professor of Social Work at Wayne State University in Detroit. During this time, Ann, an avid sailor, spent many happy hours sailing on nearby lakes.

At age 50, Ann decided to change her life.  She spent a lengthy time in retreat at the International Meditation Center in Barre, Massachusetts, a  meditation center she returned to many times throughout the rest of her life. She bought a VW camper van, and a Coleman stove and embarked on a solitary odyssey to Alaska. There she worked with Native Bands in the southeastern part of the state. She took up flying and passed her private pilot’s license exam, and then enjoyed all of the outdoor activities Alaska offers throughout the seasons.

During that time Ann stopped to visit a friend on Salt Spring Island and fell in love with the island.  She sold her land in Alaska and with friends Sharon McCollough and Maureen Bendick, jointly purchased a lot on Upper Ganges Road, where she hand-built a pole house. At that time she became a proud Canadian citizen. Later they bought acreage on Ford Lake. After remodeling an historic cabin, she kept several sheep and established a vegetable garden. Her potatoes won a ribbon at the Fall Fair. She also did her own vehicle repairs. On any given sunny afternoon, she could be found sitting cross-legged next to her blue camper, reading the manual on how, for example, to repack the brakes. She also commuted to Duncan where she worked as a Provincial Social Worker in a mental health clinic and did counselling for the local community center. Later, Ann purchased her last property, a Paul Burke hand-made house on King Road.

Ann brought her prodigious intelligence to numerous Salt Spring endeavours including Voice of Women.  She was a founding member of the Salt Spring Vipassana Group and became an active participant in the Island’s Buddhist community. This and her yoga practice sustained her through the years.

Ann loved to sing. Because of her early years in the Girl Scouts she would sing traditional camp songs and rounds such as “Fires Burning” or “Dona Nobis Pacem”.  In later years these got intermixed with three-part harmony and rousing renditions of “Country Roads”, “Delta Dawn” and the classic barbershop rendition “Molly Malone”. She also played recorder and the flute in an island early music group.

Ann was an enthusiastic sailor and kayaker, water colourist, devoted naturalist and avid birder. She kept meticulous notes of bird sightings and, with specialized equipment, recorded many hours of bird sounds that she sent to the Cornell Ornithology Laboratory.

In 1994 her interest in the natural world led her to join the steering committee that ultimately created the Salt Spring Island Conservancy.  Ann was instrumental in establishing the Conservancy as a viable legal entity. She helped to research and write the Conservancy’s Constitution and successfully applied for society status for the organization, making SSIC the third legally approved Conservancy in the province.  She also applied for the Conservancy’s Conservation Covenant Status and in 1997 successfully registered the first covenant on private land on the island. She later placed a covenant on her own land on King Road, thereby protecting three endangered species on the property. She continued to serve for many years on the Conservancy Board, helping to write conservation grants and working to establish conservation stewardship guidelines.

Ann was fortunate to be able to spend the last nine years of her life in Greenwoods where she received incredibly good care. The Staff in all departments were professionally competent while always extending the extra personal dimension to the relationship. It was clear how much they truly cared, which was a special blessing to her and to those of us who loved her.

Ann is remembered by her niece Jane Leonard of Ann Arbor, Michigan and her many friends on Salt Spring Island, especially Rosamund Dupuy.  In particular, Sharon McCollough and Maureen Milburn wish to thank Dr. Crichton for his many years of excellent medical attention and thoughtful care; Dr. Crichton’s office for their assistance; Sandi Muller, who won Ann’s respect and trust during her six years at Heritage Place Senior’s Home, and the staff of Greenwoods Long Term Care Facility for their kindness and compassion. Our special appreciation to Christie at Haywards for facilitating personalized arrangements that honoured Ann’s spiritual and environmental practices. To Lama Shenpin, we are grateful, as well as to Heather Martin and the Buddhist community of Salt Spring for continuing to hold Ann in their hearts.

To Ann’s caregivers throughout the years, particularly Geraldine Lewandowski, for her gentle care over five years, we extend our sincerest thanks. Our deepest gratitude to Jean Brown who for 15 years was Ann’s professional caregiver and compassionate companion who gave physical and emotional comfort and a genuine friendship.   Jean understood Ann’s Alzheimer’s affliction and she had the knowledge and patience to maintain an unwavering connection with the authentic Ann, the unique woman struggling with the disease.

A celebration of life for Ann will take place this spring. Donations in Ann’s memory may be made to Greenwoods Eldercare Society or the Salt Spring Island Conservancy.

To Ann, life was an incredibly complex, exciting journey and she welcomed intellectual, physical and spiritual challenges. Our Ann lived an unusually varied life and she did, indeed, have a great ride!

HOGAN, Michael Lowrey

Driftwood Obituary
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HOGAN, Michael Lowrey

Michael Lowrey Hogan
July 15, 1945 – February 15, 2020

It is with great sorrow that we share the news of Michael Hogan’s passing. Michael was born in Fresno, California in 1945. In 1968 Michael left Southern California as a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War. He found sanctuary on Salt Spring Island while coming to visit a friend. He also found a home. Michael was a master tradesman, working largely with stone, brick and tile. He was passionate about his community and was always volunteering in some form. From coaching little league baseball 30 years ago to his recent years contributing to sustainable agriculture through the Farmland Trust and Farmers Institute, he advocated for local and ecologically sustainable farming and community projects. Michael passed away exactly 5 weeks from the day his love Donna Martin left this world. He put off his own health concerns to care for her and after her passing the severity of his illness became clear. She was the focal point of his life and he was destined to join her.

We are heartbroken and stunned by the loss of our parents in such a short period of time. Both contributed tirelessly to our community and helped to make this island an incredibly special place to live. We thank our friends and community for their generosity, support and love throughout this enormously sad and challenging time for our family.

We will hold a celebration for Michael and Donna at their home on June 21st and will be announcing a community project in due time to contribute to in their memory.
With love,
Bron, Karelia, Mikaila and Tara

BARNES, Avery Kenneth

Driftwood Obituary
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BARNES, Avery Kenneth

Avery Kenneth Barnes
January 29, 1933 – February 6, 2020

It is with great sadness that the family of Ken Barnes announce his passing, after a brief illness, at Lady Minto Hospital, on February 6th. He was 87. Ken is survived by his wife, Patricia Mackenzie Barnes, his former wife, Joyce, the mother of his 8 sons and 2 daughters, 3 stepsons, 29 grandchildren, 40 great grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild. Ken was predeceased by his second wife, Donna Wilson Barnes, in 1992. His help, care, and guidance will be missed by many friends & family in the Salt Spring Island Community.

Ken was born in Vancouver and raised on Majuba Hill outside of Chilliwack. He worked with BC Tel from 1955-1992. He was also a part time paramedic for many years. His dream was to retire on Salt Spring Island and when he moved here in 1984, that dream became reality.

Ken thrived on helping others. Whether it was his involvement with the Salt Spring Lions club for 30 plus years, serving two terms as president, driving seniors to their off-island appointments, or sewing badges on his granddaughters guide sash, he looked for the little things that would enhance his community. He is remembered for bringing community members and neighbours to family gatherings so they knew they were valued.

As a young father, he encouraged his children to experience life and enjoy every second and do the fun things, clamming when the tide was coming in, Ooligan fishing along the Fraser in the dark, jumping into the water, then learning to swim, earning money by selling firewood, wielding an axe and chainsaw, He was there guiding and teaching them to be self-sufficient and instilling a strong work ethic in each one, coaching ball teams and swim club. He loved them and was so very proud of them.

Oh how he enjoyed his family coming to invade his home over the summer months! Fishing with his ‘buddy’, showing off his latest woodwork project, yard work with his sons or reminiscing about the PNE and the Dal Richards Orchestra. Those were treasured moments.

Ken will be greatly missed.

Thank you to Dr. Ian Gummeson for his guidance and compassion and the caring staff at Lady Minto Hospital.

A gathering will be held for Ken in the summer to be announced.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the charity of your choice.

Anchored ships prompt air quality concerns

Contributed Article
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Anchored ships prompt air quality concerns

BY PETER OMMUNDSEN

Record numbers of commercial cargo ships recently have been observed anchoring in the southern Gulf Islands, with some 27 ships anchored simultaneously, including 11 anchored around Salt Spring Island. A new report on air quality raises questions regarding this practice.

The Gulf Islands area is used as overflow for ships awaiting loading at terminals in the port of Vancouver, mostly for bulk grain and coal. Ship congestion is caused in part by delays in commodities arriving by train, and adverse weather conditions such as the January rains that postpone grain loading.

There has been a 10-fold increase in ships anchoring in the Gulf Islands over the past decade, despite only a 15 per cent increase in arrivals of bulk freighters at Vancouver. Export of bulk commodities from Vancouver has risen about 50 per cent, with larger ships becoming the norm. How do we explain the progressive increase of anchoring ship numbers in the Gulf Islands? How can bulk freighters now be widespread at anchor in our islands on a regular basis? The argument has been made that logistics at port are outdated and the scheduling of arrivals of incoming ships is inefficient and does not reflect modern methods.

A new report submitted to the Salt Spring Island Climate Action Council reveals that large commercial cargo ships anchored in the Gulf Islands can have a significant but largely unseen impact on our environment. While anchored, ships operate auxiliary diesel engines and boilers to provide energy for crew accommodations, instrumentation, heating, refrigeration, lighting and other uses. On a daily basis, a single anchored ship may burn two to three tonnes of fuel and emit 10 or more tonnes of carbon dioxide and other pollutants, including sulfur oxides and diesel particulate matter.

Exhaust from anchored ships undermines local clean air initiatives, including efforts at climate change mitigation. For example, carbon dioxide released during one day from a single anchored ship cancels out the greenhouse gas savings of driving an electric rather than gasoline vehicle for five years, or a family of four recycling plastic, glass, newspapers, food cans and magazines for a 10-year period.

Rising emission levels are also a concern for making our local ocean waters more acidic, with detrimental effects on marine life, in addition to stress by underwater noise and effects of anchor chains. The submarine coastal zone surrounding the shallow Ganges terrace on which ships anchor is designated as environmentally sensitive as shown on maps 10 and 20 of the Salt Spring Official Community Plan. The planning objectives for this zone include protection of “tidal waters that surround Salt Spring Island” and protection of “fish and wildlife habitat.”

Why are large polluting industrial ships being sent into an environmentally sensitive island archipelago that is supposedly protected by Section 3 of the Islands Trust Act? Inefficiencies at port causing this excessive demand for anchorages also create economic damage, as Canadian farmers must absorb the cost of tens of millions of dollars in demurrage paid to vessels sitting idle and delayed from loading grain.

Alternatives exist. Not only are upgrades needed for terminals and railway infrastructure, but there is a need for systems to schedule ship arrivals, and better management of limited anchorages at port. Ship congestion can be reduced by “just-in-time arrival” contracts. Adjusted lower speeds of incoming ships can translate into lower fuel consumption per kilometre, reducing air pollution overall, and eliminating the need for Gulf Islands anchorages. 

Recent high numbers of anchored ships are a sign that cargo ship presence and pollution among our islands may continue if there is no public input. The Government of Canada Anchorages Initiative program could well designate yet more anchorages among the Gulf Islands.

Concerned citizens may consider contacting the federal ministers of transport, environment, and fisheries to request closure of the Salt Spring anchorages and request government support and oversight in synchronizing ship and commodity scheduling.

Further information, including the air quality report, can be found at ptis.info. 

The writer served on the climate action council and contributed to the 2011 climate action plan.

Video: Wet’suwet’en protest hits island

Gail Sjuberg
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Video: Wet’suwet’en protest hits island

Salt Spring activists took to the streets in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people last Tuesday, when around 120 people demonstrated outside of the Ganges RCMP detachment against the RCMP’s use of force at the Unist’ot’en camp in northern B.C. 

The demonstration coincided with protests around the country, including one at the B.C. legislature building as MLAs were arriving to hear the NDP government’s speech from the throne on Tuesday. Some individual islanders have been supporting the cause off-island, but this was the first event held on Salt Spring. 

Organizer Tina Taylor told the crowd she is friends with a Wet’suwet’en family and seeing their struggle has caused her to want to act. Demonstrators held signs, chanted and spoke in a talking circle on part of the RCMP parking lot. 

“They are an amazing family and I have been watching the mother, who is seven months pregnant, having to come out every day and fight for her beloved people and land,” she told the crowd. “I am here because I am disgusted that B.C. Premier John Horgan and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will, with this pipeline, be destroying the sacred home and rightful land of this family.” 

People of the Wet’suwet’en First Nation have been protesting the Coastal GasLink pipeline, which is slated to be constructed through their unceded land in the northern part of the province. The camp was set up in 2010 by the hereditary chiefs, whose positions are passed down through generations. In contrast, a number of elected band councils in the region have expressed support for the pipeline. 

A checkpoint was established at the Unist’ot’en site to ensure visitors have consent to access the territory. A 2020 injunction was granted by the Supreme Court of B.C. to allow access to the area for construction crews. RCMP enforced that injunction on Feb. 10, arresting Wet’suwet’en matriarchs and chiefs, as well as other supporters. 

Protests spread across the province, with demonstrators blocking the B.C. Parliament buildings on Tuesday and overshadowing the Throne Speech, which is the annual start of the legislative session. Highway 19 in the Comox Valley was also blockaded in support of the Wet’suwet’en people. On Friday, protestors took to the streets in Victoria to “shut down the B.C. government.” A national response also spread, forcing the CN and Via Rail companies to stop operations until blockades on railways were lifted. 

MLA Adam Olsen was at the Throne Speech on Tuesday. He posted online that the event was “overwhelmed by the well-publicized protests that nearly shut down the British Columbia legislature,” adding that “Unfortunately, it appears the BC NDP are still invested in the 1950s ‘British Columbia Dream.’”

Olsen addressed the demonstrations during his time to speak during the legislative session. He told the Legislature, “It is important that people understand that what we see across Canada and on the steps of our Legislature was neither inevitable nor unavoidable. Every member in this chamber, with the exception of the B.C. Greens and our independent colleague, voted to ignite the tragic situation that we face. They voted for it over and over and over and over and over again — 14 times.” He continued, saying that reconciliation is not dead, “because when it dies, our dignity dies with it.”

Tuesday’s demonstration on Salt Spring lasted roughly an hour and was peaceful with no traffic disruptions. Other speakers included Myna Lee Johnstone, Christine Hunt and Brenda Guiled, among others. 

A number of community members also expressed their opposition to the protest on the Driftwood’s Facebook page, following posting of a preliminary report and photos. A webpage commenter also noted: “The pipeline issues have been going on for three years. The democracy has made a decision. Proceed! You may not like it but to resist makes resistance undemocratic!”

 

Stolen truck found in harbour

Elizabeth Nolan
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Stolen truck found in harbour

Salt Spring RCMP were called to the Fulford area for two vehicle-related calls last Wednesday that included the discovery of a missing truck in the waters of Fulford Harbour.

The local detachment said police responded to a report of a possible vehicle submerged in the water approximately 200 feet from the roadway near the 400 block of Isabella Point Road. Shortly after receiving the report, there was an an additional report of a vehicle being stolen sometime overnight from the same general area. 

A community Facebook post that Blaze Fullbrook made last Wednesday morning identified the truck as a 1980s model Toyota Land Cruiser belonging to the family. 

Police who visited the scene determined the partially submerged truck was in fact the vehicle that had been reported stolen. Isabella Road was closed to traffic for 30 to 45 minutes while Johnson’s Automotive Service’s towtruck and operator performed the difficult recovery operation. 

The investigation into the theft is ongoing. Anyone with any information is asked to contact the Salt Spring RCMP or CrimeStoppers.

For more on this story, see the Feb. 19, 2020 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.

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